Economic geography

Economic conditions vary widely across the earth. This aspect of economics was intensely studied by Ellsworth Huntington, a professor of economics at Yale University in the early 20th century.

He noted that the Northern, cold states like the U.S. Britain, Europe and Japan had large, well developed economies while the hot, tropical countries were less well endowed. He ascribed the differences in economic performance to differences in climate.

These differences in economic performance also affected political structures - tropical states tend to have unstable political histories.

Other factors affecting economic performance are access to the sea and the presence of raw materials like oil. Singapore, for example, occupies a key position as a port while the wealth of Saudi Arabia depends almost entirely on oil.